Union Railroad Transfer & Stock-Yard Co. v. Moore

80 Ind. 458
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 15, 1881
DocketNo 7864
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 80 Ind. 458 (Union Railroad Transfer & Stock-Yard Co. v. Moore) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Union Railroad Transfer & Stock-Yard Co. v. Moore, 80 Ind. 458 (Ind. 1881).

Opinion

Bicknell, C. C.

— The appellant appropriated land of the appellee for the use of its railroad; damages were assessed' in favor of the appellee at $4,000; he appealed to the Supe[460]*460rior Court of Marion county, alleging inadequate damages. A change of venue was taken to the Johnson Circuit Court, where a jury gave the appellee a verdict for $7,000. The appellant’s motion for a new trial was overruled, judgment was rendered upon the verdict and this appeal was taken.

The only error assigned is overruling the motion for a new trial; the only reasons for a new trial, discussed in the appellant’s brief, are:

1. Error in the ninth instruction.

2. Error in admitting certain testimony of Wm. Hadley.

3. Error in admitting certain testimony of Thos. Goodwin.

4. Error in admitting certain testimony of John Moore, Peter Kealing and David Brouse.

5. Error in excluding certain testimony of Wm. C. Smock.

6. Error in admitting certain testimony of John S. Spann, and in excluding other testimony of said Spann.

7. Error in refusing to require the jury to answer interrogatories.

8. Error in refusing to permit more than eleven witnesses to be examined on each side.

It appeared in evidence that the Pan-Handle and Junction railroads cross the appellee’s land, side by side, in a straight line, nearly east and west, on a right of way about one hundred feet wide, which they bought and paid fox1, and had been using constantly for fifteen years; these roads go between the appellee’s house on the xxorth and his barxx on the soixth; within one hundred feet of each of these .buildings the right of way extends; there is a lane leading into the National road, which laxxe runs north aixd. south, between the appellee’s house oxi the west and his barn on the east, and the right of way of said two railroads crosses this lane, between said house on the north axxd said barn on the south.

The ground appropriated by the appellant for its main line is a strip seventy-five feet wide, along all the east line of appellee’s land; said house and barn stand nearly midway between the east aixd west lines of appellee’s land, somewhat [461]*461nearer to the west line, and upwards of seven hundred feet west of appellant’s appropriation for its main line, which runs nearly north and south, crossing the Pan-Handle and ■Junction roads nearly at a right angle.

The ground appropriated by appellant for its switch begins at its main line, about seven hundred feet south of the Pan-PIandle and Junction roads, and crosses appellee’s land, curving northwesterly, and joins the right of way of the other two roads, about fifty feet east of the lane aforesaid. Appellee’s land had been used as a farm; his west line is two and one-half miles east of the court-house in Indianapolis; and the •claim was that the land was of special value for suburban residences. East of appellant’s main line, and south of the PanHandle and Junction roads, is a little place called Stratford, having four or five houses.

The appellant’s road is generally called “ the Belt Road.”

The 9th instruction was as follows: “ As I have suggested, you can not allow Moore any future or contingent value that is in prospect for his land; yet it is proper, in assessing the damages of Moore upon the lands not appropriated, to consider the effect of the future occupation and use of the lands appropriated by the railroad company, upon the residue of the land, considered with reference to its condition, value, location and surroundings at the date of appropriation. It is proper to consider the condition of such land with reference to Stratford on the east, the public highway upon the north and south, the cutting of the land by the Pan-PIandle and Junction railroads, and all the means of ingress and egress of Moore, to and from his lands, at the date of appropriation, together with all other elements of convenience and inconvenience, surrounding Moore’s land, to assist you in determining the damage to the residue of Moore’s land not appropriated by the Belt Railroad Company, at the date of the appropriation.”

The appellant’s counsel concede that thus far the 9th instruction is unobjectionable, but he claims that the concluding paragraph, in the following language, was wrong: “But [462]*462the condition of the Junction and Pan-Handle roads, at the date of appropriation, can only be considered in estimating the value of the ingress and egress, upon the east of Moore’s land, to and from the residue not appropriated by the Belt road.” Upon this it seems clear that, whether the land had special value as a site for suburban residences or not, if there were two railroads already there, crossing the plaintiff’s land as hereinbefore described, and the Belt Road was to be near them, crossing both of them on plaintiff’s land, and joining-one of them with its switch, near the plaintiff’s barn, then, in estimating the effect of the new road upon the value of land so situated, the existing condition and operation of the two roads already there ought to be considered in estimating the value of the land taken by the new road, and also the value of the remaining land; and it was error, and had a tendency to mislead the jury, to tell them that the condition of the existing roads could be considered only in reference to the ingress and egress upon the cast side of said land.

Vm. Hadley, a witness for the appellee, had testified that Moore’s land was worth $600 per acre, for the entire farm; on cross-examination, he said it could not have been sold for more than $200 an acre. He was then asked, on cross-examination, if he knew of any sales in that neighborhood at that rate, and he answered, “No.”

Upon re-examination, the counsel for the appellee, over the objection of the appellant, was permitted to ask, and the witness was permitted to answer, the following question r “ State whether or not any land could have been bought in that neighborhood, at less than $500 an acre, in July, 1877?”' This was not a proper question; the matter under investigation was the value of Moore’s land; what other land could be bought for might depend upon a great many circumstances, not affecting the appellee’s land; the fact that an owner of land will not sell it for less than a given price, is no evidence of its value; he may not wish to sell it at all; and the opinion of the witness, that land in that neighborhood could not be [463]*463bought for less than $500 an acre, was either a merely speculative opinion, or, if founded on the information of others, it was hearsay. Where such evidence is improperly admitted, the presumption is that it misleads the triers of the fact, unless the contrary clearly appears. King v. Enterprise Ins. Co., 45 Ind. 43; Wiseman v. Wiseman, 73 Ind. 112.

Thomas Goodwin was permitted, over the objection of the appellant, to state that, “ since the finishing of the Belt Road, this part of the road, where it joins on, is almost constantly obstructed by locomotives, cars and smoke,” and this witness was permitted, over like objection, to answer fully as to the obstructions upon the Pan-Handle and Junction roads between plaintiff’s house and barn.

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Bluebook (online)
80 Ind. 458, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/union-railroad-transfer-stock-yard-co-v-moore-ind-1881.